Social Justice Law Project

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
943283269
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2025
Location
Oakland, CA, USA
Phone
5108919794
Rating confidence
Limited

Reported finances

Revenue
$0
Expenses
$21,410
Assets
$220,007
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Steven Zieff (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Peter Sheehan (Secretary and Executive Attorney): $12,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Provide free legal assistance to low income persons financially unable to afford such services and support programs that provide legal assistance to low income persons. To provide such services particularly impact litigation to alleviate the barriers created by arrest and conviction records to individuals seeking employment and other benefits or rights such as licensing housing and other matters.

What it reported doing in 2025

Extensively reviewed responses and drafted freedom of information act requests to eight separate California courts regarding the procedures and standards followed in the dissemination and retention .of criminal history record information for employment or licensing purposes and the procedures and practices followed in the deletion or sealing of criminal history record information. Superior courts included Alameda Richmond Contra Costa, Santa Clara Fresno and San Mateo San Bernardino Sacramento and Los Angles.

Operating model

Revenue model
No positive adjusted resources. The filing reports no positive adjusted operating resources.
Distribution model
Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.

The verdict

- The available evidence is not sufficient to produce an overall rating for this filing. This is not a warning sign.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 68
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 28
  • Growth: 0

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: Limited
  • Program expense ratio: 90%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: Limited
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 10.28; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 56%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -14% per year; rating input score 0; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -67.9% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -5.8% per year; rating input score 0; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 90% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 2 of 3 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $19K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $12K · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 39 of 41 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 2 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2020 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 3/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Functional expense sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Part IX Occupancy column sum did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Grant Readiness: California registration: this organization is recorded as not currently operating in California.